Looking at today's paper, my eye was immediately drawn to the headline, "Preaching Virtue of Spanking, Even as Deaths Fuel Debate." Growing up attending a church where this topic was prominent, the article piqued my interest easily. This article was pretty loaded and to summarize it all would be difficult. In essence, a pastor and his wife published a book about disciplining children that wound up in the hands of three families with adopted children who took the principles too far. As far as legislation banning the book or even the practice of spanking, is hard to settle. Since its a religion based issue, there are heated opinions on both sides. While the pastor meant it well and obviously did not harm his children, when in the wrong hands, a book like that could and has become fatal for three children which should cause all in connection to it to reconsider.
I thought the article was well written and organized. The headline obviously caught my attention right away and the delayed lede worked for the type if issue being covered. Since it was an article covering a controversial issue that happens to tie in to religion, I expected to see a bit more of a bias or leaning in one direction, but was gladly proved wrong. Both sides of the issue were very well represented, allowing the reader to come to his or her own conclusions. One sentence though did give away a bit of what the reporter thought. The tidbit telling of the pastor's hobby of being a knife and tomahawk throwing champion, giving the subject of the article, was cleverly added to show the reporter's feelings in an understated manner.
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